Miss Maisel lit a candle beside the sleeping Sarah. The longer the daughter kept her eyes closed, the more worried the mother became. Shadowing her daughter, she had not taken an ounce of food or water the entire day.
The calling bell jingled. She wiped off her tears, gave Sarah one last look and rushed to the door. Expecting the arrival of Eulene and the guest, she opened it. But outside, stood four strangers- three men and a woman.
"Miss Amanda Maisel?" The blonde young lady asked.
"Ye- yes." The matron nodded. The formal coats worn by the newcomers made them look like government employees.
The young woman gave her a card. "We are a special investigation team from the Detectivete Headquarters. We are investigating last night's incident."
A nostalgic smile surfaced on the matron's tired face while she observed the card and caressed it with her thumb. It gave her the same feeling as that of the one her late husband used to wield.
"Miss Maisel?"
"Ah. I apologise." She handed the card back, losing the slight smile. "By yesterday's incident, did you mean the impact?"
"May I know where you were when it struck the forest?"
The woman's eyes twitched, catching the attention of all the detectives. "I-"
"Forget it." The youngest and the most handsome of the three men, the one with the grey eyes interrupted. "Chrysa."
"Excuse me." The blonde detective took the glove off her right hand and pointed at the matron's glabella- the spot between her eyes.
Just as Chrysa was about to snap her fingers, a chill touched her neck. The entire scenery swirled as her own headless body came into her view.
But in a moment, she was back into her spot- with her head still on her shoulders and her right index finger pointed at the suspect's glabella- trembling. She subconsciously took a few steps back. Her breathing grew heavy while cold sweat drenched her entire body.
She, along with her teammates, turned to the entrance of the yard. There, stood a gorgeous foreigner lady wearing a blue dress- glaring at the blonde, followed by a silver eyed gentleman. They closed the distance to a couple of meters.
Eulene intentionally exposed her killing intent- but only to the blonde. How dare she tried to control Aunt Maisel's mind?
"I was there with Aunt Maisel at that time," she said.
The tall and long haired Thompson stepped forward. "We are in the midst of investigation." He turned to Chrysa who had horror written all over her face. "And obstruction in the process is a crime."
"Is that so?" Eulene smirked. "You will have to speak to my lawyer."
Xavier walked past Eulene and tipped his hat. "Secret Act, Article 7, Paragraph 6- hypnosis can only be applied to prime suspects if and only if there is sufficient evidence to prove them so."
The 'Secret Act'- it was the culmination of the most updated laws that dealt with kinetic and supernatural affairs. As the name applied, these laws were not published in any journals or written in the constitution. Rather, it was written in an artefact called 'The tritome'. Only a handful in the entire nation had access to the artefact. And those who were aware of the Act had the power to defend themselves or any other kinetics legally- even if he were a rogue.
David, the leader of the team, looked into Xavier's eyes. "Same Act, same Article, Paragraph 3- the team in charge of paranormal investigation has the complete authority to decide the evidences and the suspects."
"That would have been the case normally," Xavier said, "but now that my client has confessed that she was there with Miss Amanda Maisel, I believe there must be some changes in your evaluation. Am I correct?"
"Yes." David teetered his gaze between Xavier and Eulene, before fixing it on the gentleman. "Looks like we found both of our prime suspects quite early… Mister. Xavier. Godwin."
"Oh. Is that so?" Xavier asked nonchalantly. "And your reasoning? Detective. David. Ashdown."
The fact that Xavier knew the leader's name shocked the trio. Only David himself remained nonchalant.
Cassius- the last and the oldest member of the team- curbed the surprise in his heart and asked, "You- a rogue without any affiliation to a society- you arrived in Derbury just before the meteor impact, and you are connected to the kinetic who was closest to impact. This is enough 'reasoning', isn't it?"
Xavier let out a chortle. "I avoided joining any Secret Societies as I always preferred freedom. But it seems that joining 'The Thirteenth' is not a bad choice since it gives its members freedom of speech- including the liberty to defame the organisation itself."
"What do you mean?" The middle aged Cassius frowned.
"'Our great secret society- the Thirteenth- which claims itself to be one of the best in the world could not predict a meteor fall, while a mere rogue kinetic did'- is this not what you just said?" Xavier asked in his casual nonchalant tone.
The impatient Thompson charged at Xavier. "How dare you?!"
Lightning engulfed his whole body as he closed the distance in a jiffy. It rumbled as the man threw a punch at Xavier's face with full force.
But Xavier remained carefree as always, stopping the strike with one hand. Electricity coursed to his body to the Earth below, but he remained unscathed.
"Secret Act, Article 4, Paragraph 3," Xavier said, his hand still firmly gripping the tall detective's fist. "If a state employed kinetic takes the first step in exposing his powers to an ordinary citizen, the authority behind the 'offender' is responsible for safety and stability of the witness." Xavier turned to Miss Maisel.
"Is this not your first time seeing a human wielding the power of lightning?" He asked.
The stunned matron barely opened her mouth. "Ye-"
"Are you not scared out of your mind?" Xavier continued.
"I-"
"Will you not have nightmares for the rest of your life?"
"…"
"Did you not just lose your faith in humanity?"
The matron was speechless. Not from the questions themselves, but at the rapidity at which they came. Eulene rushed to the woman and pulled her into a hug.
"I know you just witnessed something you shouldn't have. But keep it together. You still need to live to take care of Sarah." Eulene 'consoled' her.
[Aunt. Act shocked. Or I have to go into prison.]
Miss Maisel was not convinced.
[And he said that there's no schooling in jail.]
Tears began to stream out of the strict teacher's eyes while she groaned. Women were inherently proficient at the art of drama, especially when it came to shedding tears.
Fuck! Eulene grimaced inwardly. The woman did not have any qualms about her going to prison. The fact that she could not study there was the problem.
"Tsk. Tsk." Xavier shook his head. "You scared the poor woman. Secret Act, Article 4, Paragraph 4- if a state employed kinetic scares an ordinary citizen with his power-"
"Bullshit!" Electricity charged up Thompson again.
"Enough!" David finally made a move. "Come back."
Thompson took back his fist and walked back to the team.
"We'll end it here today," said David, "This is not the last time we are meeting." He walked out while the rest of the team followed.
Eulene's face turned grim.
Xavier asked, "You understood, right?"
She nodded. She would rather face a hundred arrogant fools than someone who knows when to take a step back.
"Anyways, I think he got the message." Xavier turned to the direction of the detective team.
A few dozen meters away, both Thompson and Cassius had grim looks on their faces while the blonde, Chrysa was still horrified. Only David was nonchalant- no- he had a slight smile on his face.
"You guys acted well," he said.
"Thank you," both Thompson and Cassius said in chorus.
To ask Xavier about his coincident arrival and to attack him were secret orders transmitted by their leader.
"Now we know who we are up against." David turned to Chrysa. "What did you witness? I did not sense any lumomancy. Whatever happened was the pure manifestation of her killing intent."
She remembered the scene and her breathing grew heavier, but she still decided to reveal it. "I- I died. I was powerless; I lost control of my body- not being able to move a finger. I saw my own headless body as my head rolled down." She subconsciously caressed her neck, so did her other two male partners.
David frowned. "Such intense killing intent. What's scarier is that she was able to hide it from us and hold herself back. Clearly, her body count is high."
"Yes, sir. We can't leave that foreigner roam free."
"And we will not." David smirked. "You have got their message, haven't you?"
"Message? What message?" Thompson knitted his brows.
"Catch us if you can."